The woes of developing games and earning a living was once shrouded in secrecy from the main stream. Now thanks to those who have the courage to bring these issues to light we can explain some of the "why's" as to why some games seem to take forever to get released. This was a message from Jonathon Boakes the creator of Dark Fall Series and the Lost Crown.

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Very disappointed in GOG, the game download website. They have been selling my Dark Fall games and refuse to acknowledge me as the creator and copyright owner.

I still own the copyright on games called 'Dark Fall', but they insist some crooks called Nordic Games own them. Nordic say they bought them from Dreamcatcher, which simply isn't true. Dreamcatcher were issued a Cease and Desist years ago! Also, Nordic and GOG have failed to pay any royalties or provide sales figures.

It's very depressing. And, if I can't get paid what I am due, for my work, there is no point making games. It's a real shame, but I'm not sure I want to go through all this every time I make a game. It is soul destroying and makes me feel like I have wasted my time and provided plenty if cash for greedy suits with no morals or honesty.

If you have bought my games from GOG (Dark Fall retails at $5.99!!!) then I am sorry to report that not a cent actually made it to me; the only person credited in making the games.

After this was shared all over FaceBook and on the GoG forums, they did indeed remove it from their catalog this morning, but sadly, it took them publicity to remove it because private discussions were ignored. So many games are not being released because of publishing issues and the lack of payments for previously released games.

How can a developer be expected to make games, especially retail boxed copies which require much more help if they do not earn any money from them?

I am very happy to see these issues being brought out in the open. I see complaints of airing the dirty laundry in public, but sadly, it seems the only way to get any action.

I hope that now, instead of chastising the developers for not releasing games on time, the public may give some pause and consider that their contract negotiations may be what's holding it back and not the development. They just want to earn a living like the rest of us.

It is so hard to bite my tongue and not be able to give real answers to people when they question why a long anticipated game is not yet released, especially when they are attacks that are directed towards the developer as though they are just lollygagging with their games. Obviously a developer cannot discuss these issues while the contract negotiations are underway.

The really appalling thing is when the publisher blames the developer for the delays and we know better. So sad and so frustrating.

This breaks my heart and makes me sick. I love computer games, especially adventures. Jonathan Boakes makes wonderful adventure games. I have purchased every game in boxes from retail stores. I hope he got the payment due him for these purchases. MDNA is another maker of, again, wonderful adventures games and I purchase these also. There are numerous other great adventures games I have purchased and I sincerly hope that the creators of these great games got they due payment. I really appreciate these wonderful people that make these great games and the fact that I can still purchase games in boxes and DVD cases makes me doubly grateful. The cases do not have to be anything fancy, I realize those days are dissapearing, but I really like having a game disc and case and will continue to support these talented and hard working people and I am sure a geat many gamers feel the same. The dishonest companies and people hurt us all.

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Brick walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Give no thought of tomorrow, today was tomorrow and tomorrow will be today.

Very upsetting news! I assumed GOG could be trusted, and maybe they can if they're making it right now. But what a loss for Boakes.

I have his first two Dark Fall games, boxed by Dreamcatcher, which I've played and loved. I also have the boxed version of Lost Crown put out by Got Game, which I haven't played yet. I hope these are the legit versions!

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"Dragons were never gone. They were just invisible and very, very quiet." ~ M'aiq the Liar (Skyrim)

Wow, that's terrible, and definitely not deserved. I played and loved The Lost Crown, and I'm sorry to see that this happened to Jonathan.

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I'd rather see GOG put Dark Fall back in their catalog and pay Jon Boakes the royalties instead of just removing the games.

I really hope this is what ends up happening. He certainly deserves to get royalties from his own games! And it's really a shame it had to happen at all as GOG is such a great, DRM free resource. I'm sorry to see they were selling his games without his knowledge or benefit. I'm hoping they can get it sorted out somehow. I remember when something similar happened with the developers of Culpa Innata, which is a big reason we may never see a sequel. Hope The Last Crown doesn't suffer the same fate!

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Interrogator: [True or false?] All mangoes are golden. Nothing golden is cheap. Conclusion - all mangoes are cheap.

Were the distributors really concerned with the developers, this type of situation would never occur. These distributors don't realize that they put their business at risk by the way they treat developers. As in this case, if the situation isn't resolved what's to keep other developers from dropping their support for a particular distributor? And also as with this case, even worse, the customer finds out?

As long as the ever living buck is the bottom line, these types of situations are going to continue. And unless somebody is willing, and financially able, to really slap a hand, it will continue.

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If something gets your goat, it just proves you have a goat to get.

I'm so glad this has been brought to our attention. I am disgusted to hear what has happened to probably the most creative developer around and to others.I always buy boxed versions of games from what I hope to be reputable sources. One of the reasons I very rarely use download sites is my pathetically slow intenet connection.I recently used GOG to download an old, presumably out of production, game but I will never use them again. Nor will I buy Nordic games nor any other company that I hear has been involved in such bad practice.I've made it one of my policies in life to boycott any product or company that has shown to be unethical in its dealings. I can't be bothered with apologies. "Sorry" usually means "Sorry I've been found out" not "Sorry I did it and caused such harm". If we all, always, voted with our feet we could limit such bad practice.I hope Gameboomers will, where possible, name and shame the perpetrators of unethical practices.